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1gwendetenebre
"The Autopsy" by Michael Shea
Discussion begins on March 26.
First published in the December 1980 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
ONLINE VERSIONS
No legal online versions found to date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?49726
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
The Dark Descent
The Autopsy and Other Tales
Polyphemus
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 24th Series
The Century's Best Horror Fiction: Volume 2
MISCELLANY
http://www.michaelsheaauthor.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shea_%28author%29
http://lairdbarron.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/21st-century-ghosts/
http://www.pattonoswalt.com/index.cfm?page=spew&id=120
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcbw52_michael-shea-interview-for-the-extr_shor...
http://tinyurl.com/ouqcgyf
Discussion begins on March 26.
First published in the December 1980 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
ONLINE VERSIONS
No legal online versions found to date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?49726
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
The Dark Descent
The Autopsy and Other Tales
Polyphemus
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 24th Series
The Century's Best Horror Fiction: Volume 2
MISCELLANY
http://www.michaelsheaauthor.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shea_%28author%29
http://lairdbarron.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/21st-century-ghosts/
http://www.pattonoswalt.com/index.cfm?page=spew&id=120
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcbw52_michael-shea-interview-for-the-extr_shor...
http://tinyurl.com/ouqcgyf
2gwendetenebre
I have this in several volumes. Probably The Dark Descent for me. It's a longish tale, by the way.
3housefulofpaper
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories is the one I'll use.
4paradoxosalpha
I'll be reading it from The Weird too, as I also read "The Hospice."
5RandyStafford
The Weird for me as well. It turned out to be a pretty useful purchase for this group.
6AndreasJ
Well, this prompted me to order a copy of The Weird. Prolly won't arrive in time for Wednesday, but we'll consider it an investment for the future.
7artturnerjr
I was going to read this out of my local public library's copy of The Dark Descent. Alas, I now see that they no longer have it. :(
8gwendetenebre
This story oozes creeping dread. It works as a monster-on-the-loose tale, a police procedural and as a science fiction thriller. I was strongly reminded of cinema's THE THING (1981) and REANIMATOR (1985), although "The Autopsy" predates both of those. Recent Deep Ones readings of HPL remind me of how strongly this tale successfully utilizes tropes from "The Whisperer in Darkness", "The Shadow Out of Time" and others:
And the doctor had glimpses of the history behind this predation, that of a race so far advanced in the essentializing, the inexorable abstraction of their own mental fabric that through scientific commitment and genetic self-cultivation they had come to embody their own model of perfected consciousness, streamlined to permit the entry of other beings and the direct acquisition of their experimental worlds. All strictest scholarship at first, until there matured in the disembodied scholars their long-germinal and now blazing, jealous hatred for all “lesser” minds rooted and clothed in the soil and sunlight of solid, particular worlds.
What really gives the tale its kick is Shea’s constant barrage of arcane medical terminology which evokes an otherworldly landscape all its own, such as “the chordite nerve/brain paradigm”, “polyhedral surface nodules”, “mediastinal crevice”, “the laminae of flesh and bone”, “neural taps”, and the “agonal” experience of death.
And the doctor had glimpses of the history behind this predation, that of a race so far advanced in the essentializing, the inexorable abstraction of their own mental fabric that through scientific commitment and genetic self-cultivation they had come to embody their own model of perfected consciousness, streamlined to permit the entry of other beings and the direct acquisition of their experimental worlds. All strictest scholarship at first, until there matured in the disembodied scholars their long-germinal and now blazing, jealous hatred for all “lesser” minds rooted and clothed in the soil and sunlight of solid, particular worlds.
What really gives the tale its kick is Shea’s constant barrage of arcane medical terminology which evokes an otherworldly landscape all its own, such as “the chordite nerve/brain paradigm”, “polyhedral surface nodules”, “mediastinal crevice”, “the laminae of flesh and bone”, “neural taps”, and the “agonal” experience of death.
9paradoxosalpha
I was most reminded of the Great Race of "The Shadow Out of Time" and the Kaldanes of The Chessmen of Mars. But this story was way nastier than either of those!
Especially interesting to me was the fact of the doctor's cancer. In some ways, it was a red herring, although it did make the doctor's final sacrifice more credible, since he knew his ticket was already punched, so to speak. It wasn't in itself the monster's undoing, though.
Evidently, the creature was in the vanguard, but there could be a lot of its type among humans without significant detection. For a moment, I wondered whether the doctor would be revealed to have his own prior parasite, for which the cancer was a symptom.
Especially interesting to me was the fact of the doctor's cancer. In some ways, it was a red herring, although it did make the doctor's final sacrifice more credible, since he knew his ticket was already punched, so to speak. It wasn't in itself the monster's undoing, though.
Evidently, the creature was in the vanguard, but there could be a lot of its type among humans without significant detection. For a moment, I wondered whether the doctor would be revealed to have his own prior parasite, for which the cancer was a symptom.
10gwendetenebre
>9 paradoxosalpha:
I think that Dr. Winter's ongoing monologue directed at his cancer is designed to delineate his strength of character. Even facing his inevitable death, he maintains his composure with his chin up and with a certain amount of grim humor. As you say, this makes his final, horrible (and how!) self-sacrifice a plausible one. Even the grim humor remains until the final cut:
Dr. Winter’s gruesome self-mutilation ends with the perfect trap being sprung, spoken with truly fine black humor: “Welcome to your new house. I’m afraid there’s been some vandalism – the lights don’t work, and the plumbing has a very bad leak… the neighborhood is perhaps a little too quiet, and you may find it hard to get around very easily.”
In lesser hands, that line might have simply become a gruesome bit of EC Comics-like gallows humor, but Shea makes it not only a believable response, but also a rather moving one.
You note, "Evidently, the creature was in the vanguard, but there could be a lot of its type among humans without significant detection. For a moment, I wondered whether the doctor would be revealed to have his own prior parasite, for which the cancer was a symptom."
That's one of the aspects of this story that reminds me of THE THING, from Campbell's source story through the first two movie versions (haven't seen the latest yet). The doctor is simply having one parasite replaced by another, isn't he? You've made me wonder if cancer can be considered a parasite, so of course I had to consult the Google djinn. This is interesting:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-07/cancers-are-newly-evolved-parasiti...
I think that Dr. Winter's ongoing monologue directed at his cancer is designed to delineate his strength of character. Even facing his inevitable death, he maintains his composure with his chin up and with a certain amount of grim humor. As you say, this makes his final, horrible (and how!) self-sacrifice a plausible one. Even the grim humor remains until the final cut:
Dr. Winter’s gruesome self-mutilation ends with the perfect trap being sprung, spoken with truly fine black humor: “Welcome to your new house. I’m afraid there’s been some vandalism – the lights don’t work, and the plumbing has a very bad leak… the neighborhood is perhaps a little too quiet, and you may find it hard to get around very easily.”
In lesser hands, that line might have simply become a gruesome bit of EC Comics-like gallows humor, but Shea makes it not only a believable response, but also a rather moving one.
You note, "Evidently, the creature was in the vanguard, but there could be a lot of its type among humans without significant detection. For a moment, I wondered whether the doctor would be revealed to have his own prior parasite, for which the cancer was a symptom."
That's one of the aspects of this story that reminds me of THE THING, from Campbell's source story through the first two movie versions (haven't seen the latest yet). The doctor is simply having one parasite replaced by another, isn't he? You've made me wonder if cancer can be considered a parasite, so of course I had to consult the Google djinn. This is interesting:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-07/cancers-are-newly-evolved-parasiti...
11housefulofpaper
I don't know why, but I can't focus my thoughts on this one.
It's a really gripping story, and in the sadism of the parasite, it's feeding off the total despair and degradation of its host, a notably nasty one. No question of that. But beyond that...
Earlier this evening I thought might be on to something. I noted that the main characters - the doctor, the sheriff, the host - are all men, and apparently independent loners, scholarly in their way (Marcus Aurelius), but I don't know what if anything could be drawn from that.
Then, Science Fiction is full of races who have privileged the mind over the body (all those Star Trek aliens in togas - or were they chitons - that revealed themselves as "pure thought" at the end of the episode). The parasite is different in giving up its body (in effect) but not sensuality. But it needs other bodies...
So we've got three self-contained but not maladjusted stoics on one hand; and a predator that needs other people/ but not in a way that could by any stretch of the imagination, on the other...
I don't, to be honest, think this is going anywhere. Just possibly these are the kind of thoughts that Michael Shea grew the story out of, but even if that were so, so what...?
It's a really gripping story, and in the sadism of the parasite, it's feeding off the total despair and degradation of its host, a notably nasty one. No question of that. But beyond that...
Earlier this evening I thought might be on to something. I noted that the main characters - the doctor, the sheriff, the host - are all men, and apparently independent loners, scholarly in their way (Marcus Aurelius), but I don't know what if anything could be drawn from that.
Then, Science Fiction is full of races who have privileged the mind over the body (all those Star Trek aliens in togas - or were they chitons - that revealed themselves as "pure thought" at the end of the episode). The parasite is different in giving up its body (in effect) but not sensuality. But it needs other bodies...
So we've got three self-contained but not maladjusted stoics on one hand; and a predator that needs other people/ but not in a way that could by any stretch of the imagination, on the other...
I don't, to be honest, think this is going anywhere. Just possibly these are the kind of thoughts that Michael Shea grew the story out of, but even if that were so, so what...?
12gwendetenebre
>11 housefulofpaper:
I do appreciate this story more on each successive re-reading.
I like the interesting idea of these supposedly enlightened, all-powerful, "disembodied scholars" devolving into sadists over time. The cause? Ennui, I'll bet! Not that bored sadists don't have sense of humor, though, as when the parasite-infected Joe Allen leers, “{Eddie Sykes} is with us now, has been throughout. I grieve to abandon so rare a host! He is a true hermit-philosopher, well-read in four languages. He is writing a translation of Marcus Aurelius – he was, I mean, in his free time…” Heh heh.
The first half of the story does work best. I think one of the scariest lines is, "He came to the refrigerator door, and hesitated. He stared at the door, not moving, not understanding why. Run. Get out now." Once Dr. Winter is strapped down, Joe Allen takes on the more traditional super villain role, explaining all to the hero. Here, it doesn't make me the least bit incredulous. Joe Allen is telling us some intriguing yet horrifying things. The conversation makes sense as the preparations proceed.
For the fun of it, two foreshadowings of Stuart Gordon's REANIMATOR:
"'Clever corpse!'” the doctor cried. “'Clever, carnivorous corpse Able alien! Please don’t think I’m criticizing. Who am I to criticize? A mere arm and shoulder, a talking head, just a piece of a pathologist'", calls to mind Herbert West's "who's going to believe a talking head?" comment to the decapitated-yet-sentient Dr. Hill.
Also, “the glittering Medusa’s head” of the alien’s physical form set upon Dr. Winters’ stomach evokes the infamous sequence between decapitated Dr. Hill and Megan Halsey. Minus the implied sexual act. One hopes.
I do appreciate this story more on each successive re-reading.
I like the interesting idea of these supposedly enlightened, all-powerful, "disembodied scholars" devolving into sadists over time. The cause? Ennui, I'll bet! Not that bored sadists don't have sense of humor, though, as when the parasite-infected Joe Allen leers, “{Eddie Sykes} is with us now, has been throughout. I grieve to abandon so rare a host! He is a true hermit-philosopher, well-read in four languages. He is writing a translation of Marcus Aurelius – he was, I mean, in his free time…” Heh heh.
The first half of the story does work best. I think one of the scariest lines is, "He came to the refrigerator door, and hesitated. He stared at the door, not moving, not understanding why. Run. Get out now." Once Dr. Winter is strapped down, Joe Allen takes on the more traditional super villain role, explaining all to the hero. Here, it doesn't make me the least bit incredulous. Joe Allen is telling us some intriguing yet horrifying things. The conversation makes sense as the preparations proceed.
For the fun of it, two foreshadowings of Stuart Gordon's REANIMATOR:
"'Clever corpse!'” the doctor cried. “'Clever, carnivorous corpse Able alien! Please don’t think I’m criticizing. Who am I to criticize? A mere arm and shoulder, a talking head, just a piece of a pathologist'", calls to mind Herbert West's "who's going to believe a talking head?" comment to the decapitated-yet-sentient Dr. Hill.
Also, “the glittering Medusa’s head” of the alien’s physical form set upon Dr. Winters’ stomach evokes the infamous sequence between decapitated Dr. Hill and Megan Halsey. Minus the implied sexual act. One hopes.
13housefulofpaper
> 12
You're right about Reanimator; I was thinking that The X-Files was prefigured in a vague way. There were several scenes following Scully into the autopsy room. That made me think about how such scenes are far more common and far more graphic in TV dramas (non-horror dramas, at that) today, than they were when this story was written.
It's 33 years old now and could be considered "in its historical context", looking at how things have changed in that time, maybe the visceral details of the autopsies aren't as shocking to us due to familiarity, maybe some parts of the storytelling shows its age in other ways, or maybe some of it is more shocking now because it talks about things in a way that's become unfamiliar?
What brought me up short, when I starting thinking along those lines, was that I could have bought that issue of F&SF when it was published! (F&SF, Analog, Asimov's all had newsstand distribution in the UK in the early '80s. I definitely had the September '81 F&SF, with the original novella version of Mythago Wood).
I think Shea sets up the gloating/info dump scene as well as it could be done, actually. Given that the alien is a sadist and nourishes itself on it's hosts feelings, it makes sense that it would both need and want to make Dr Winter suffer as much as possible. Maybe a closer comparison than a super villain would be a Bond villian - Fleming was repeatedly charged with sadism (and masochism on Bond's part) in his books, a charge it would be hard for him to deny, I think.
You're right about Reanimator; I was thinking that The X-Files was prefigured in a vague way. There were several scenes following Scully into the autopsy room. That made me think about how such scenes are far more common and far more graphic in TV dramas (non-horror dramas, at that) today, than they were when this story was written.
It's 33 years old now and could be considered "in its historical context", looking at how things have changed in that time, maybe the visceral details of the autopsies aren't as shocking to us due to familiarity, maybe some parts of the storytelling shows its age in other ways, or maybe some of it is more shocking now because it talks about things in a way that's become unfamiliar?
What brought me up short, when I starting thinking along those lines, was that I could have bought that issue of F&SF when it was published! (F&SF, Analog, Asimov's all had newsstand distribution in the UK in the early '80s. I definitely had the September '81 F&SF, with the original novella version of Mythago Wood).
I think Shea sets up the gloating/info dump scene as well as it could be done, actually. Given that the alien is a sadist and nourishes itself on it's hosts feelings, it makes sense that it would both need and want to make Dr Winter suffer as much as possible. Maybe a closer comparison than a super villain would be a Bond villian - Fleming was repeatedly charged with sadism (and masochism on Bond's part) in his books, a charge it would be hard for him to deny, I think.
14gwendetenebre
>13 housefulofpaper:
By 1980, when "The Autopsy" was published, the idea of graphic description of an autopsy in popular entertainment was still taboo, although I had run across this in the 1970's in such novels as Jeff Rice's The Night Stalker and Herbert Lieberman's City of the Dead. By the late 1980's you could find med-school and military-filmed autopsies that were bootlegged for the underground video market. By the 1990's (X-Files, as you mention) and into the new millennium, there were popular crime TV shows and cable documentaries that routinely showed footage that would have been extremely disturbing only a couple of decades earlier. Far beyond Quincy, you might say. So, yes, popular culture is much more jaded now. When I read the story now, it's not the autopsy details that disturb as much as the esoteric medical jargon I mention up in 8.
I was thinking Bond villain, too. You're right that Joe Allen's sadism might move him up on the same level as Blofeld or Dr. No!
By 1980, when "The Autopsy" was published, the idea of graphic description of an autopsy in popular entertainment was still taboo, although I had run across this in the 1970's in such novels as Jeff Rice's The Night Stalker and Herbert Lieberman's City of the Dead. By the late 1980's you could find med-school and military-filmed autopsies that were bootlegged for the underground video market. By the 1990's (X-Files, as you mention) and into the new millennium, there were popular crime TV shows and cable documentaries that routinely showed footage that would have been extremely disturbing only a couple of decades earlier. Far beyond Quincy, you might say. So, yes, popular culture is much more jaded now. When I read the story now, it's not the autopsy details that disturb as much as the esoteric medical jargon I mention up in 8.
I was thinking Bond villain, too. You're right that Joe Allen's sadism might move him up on the same level as Blofeld or Dr. No!
15paradoxosalpha
While reading "The Autopsy" I was actually reminded of the explicit "Bond villain" in Stross's Jennifer Morgue (the Bond installment in his homages to spy fiction) who is conscious of the hazard of "monologuing" involved with his sorcerously-chosen role.
17housefulofpaper
>16 paradoxosalpha:
No, I haven't read de Sade. Not yet, anyway. I've picked up some knowledge about him over the years. He's a character that writers find useful to throw a light on various aspects of 18th Century (and later) society.
No, I haven't read de Sade. Not yet, anyway. I've picked up some knowledge about him over the years. He's a character that writers find useful to throw a light on various aspects of 18th Century (and later) society.
19AndreasJ
>12 gwendetenebre:
Also, “the glittering Medusa’s head” of the alien’s physical form set upon Dr. Winters’ stomach evokes the infamous sequence between decapitated Dr. Hill and Megan Halsey. Minus the implied sexual act. One hopes.
I did think of Shambleau at that point ...
My copy of The Weird arrived today, and naturally I sat down to read this tale. Quite happy with my investment this far. This was perhaps my most viscerally disturbing Deep One read yet, successfully blending the body horror aspect with the alien's relatively cerebral sadism.
Also, “the glittering Medusa’s head” of the alien’s physical form set upon Dr. Winters’ stomach evokes the infamous sequence between decapitated Dr. Hill and Megan Halsey. Minus the implied sexual act. One hopes.
I did think of Shambleau at that point ...
My copy of The Weird arrived today, and naturally I sat down to read this tale. Quite happy with my investment this far. This was perhaps my most viscerally disturbing Deep One read yet, successfully blending the body horror aspect with the alien's relatively cerebral sadism.
20RandyStafford
Illness and household emergencies don't leave me with enough energy to say more than "Wow!" about this story. A true classic. Cosmic horror, Stoic philosophy in the face of it, a nicely sketched background of the biological and social evolution of a sado-tropic parasite, and a final act of defiance that may mean nothing in the great scale of things. But it's the local where we live our lives and find our meaning, and the doctor is determined to protect his community whether from insurance companies and corporations (social parasites?) or alien parasites.
Yes, it's part of that great decade from 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers to this story to Carpenter's The Thing to 1987's The Hidden of body snatching and possession stories.
Finally, here is an appropriate bit from Marc Laidlaw's appreciation of Michael Shea in the new Locus: The irony is that no one wrote more richly or beautifully of the physical aspects of death. No other theme brought out such voluptuous verbosity. I know that he had stared death full in the face several times in his life. This alone does not make him remarkable. But it was Michael's special grace to wrest incredible beauty from these trysts with mortality, without losing sight of their gruesome nature. It seems fitting that he will be remembered for some of the most beautifully morbid passages ever penned.
Yes, it's part of that great decade from 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers to this story to Carpenter's The Thing to 1987's The Hidden of body snatching and possession stories.
Finally, here is an appropriate bit from Marc Laidlaw's appreciation of Michael Shea in the new Locus: The irony is that no one wrote more richly or beautifully of the physical aspects of death. No other theme brought out such voluptuous verbosity. I know that he had stared death full in the face several times in his life. This alone does not make him remarkable. But it was Michael's special grace to wrest incredible beauty from these trysts with mortality, without losing sight of their gruesome nature. It seems fitting that he will be remembered for some of the most beautifully morbid passages ever penned.
